Follow AllEars.net Founder Deb Wills on her journeys near and far via Walt Disney World, the Disney Cruise Line, and Adventures by Disney as she shares her planning thoughts and details of her trips and various Disney experiences. Deb is also active raising funds and awareness in the fight against Breast Cancer!

Epcot's annual Flower and Garden Festival begins March 4th with new displays, topiaries, mini-gardens, garden rocks bands, food and beverages. This is Part 2 of our preview.

Our Festival Preview also included tasting some of the new food and beverages offered this year in the Outdoor Kitchens. Here are interviews with Epcot Executive Chef Gregg Hannon and Content Manager. Following the videos we share photos and our thoughts on the food and beverages.

LINDA: This was by far my favorite!!! I loved the creamy, slightly cheesy tasting grits. Adding the Andouille Sausage gives it a slight kick while the corn a touch of sweetness. Both the grits and shrimp were cooked perfectly.

LINDA: This was my second favorite tasting! I am allergic to pine nuts and they are present in the arugula pesto so I asked to have mine served without the pesto. It was still very delicious. I love the vegetarian quinoa patty and tomatoes together. This seems to be fun food. As you can wrap the naan bread around the patty and eat it like a sandwich. This could be a nice walk around food item.

DEB: I really enjoyed this item. The quinoa patty was on the loose side so it might make for a slightly messy sandwich... but I loved the flavors and look forward to trying it again.

Smoked Debreziner Sausage With House made Kraut and Mustard - THE SMOKEHOUSE: Barbecue and Brews

LINDA: I normally do not care for sausage, but this little dish was full of tasty heat and spice flavor. I believe the mustard was where the heat was. It was subtle heat. It did not burn the mouth but gave plenty of flavor.

DEB: I enjoyed the sausage.. I only put a little mustard on mine since I'm not a heat fan.

Coconut Tres Leches - Botanas Botánico

LINDA: This by far my favorite dessert! The cake was so moist, the icing light and airy with a hint of caramel and coconut flavor. I am not a big sweet dessert person but I could easily have stuffed myself with several pieces of this cake.

DEB: My favorite dessert too. Light, moist, flavorful.. simply yummy. I have to tell you I haven't seen Linda eat a whole piece of cake in a long time LOL

Florida Blueberry & Lemon Curd Tart - Florida Fresh

LINDA: Again, not being a big dessert person, this did not do much for me. It wasn't bad, just meh for me.

DEB: It tasted good and the blueberries were very fresh. However, after tasting the Coconut Tres Leches, I only took one bite of the tart and went back to my piece of Coconut cake.

LINDA and DEB: When this was served as a simple white wine in 2014, neither of us cared for it. Too sweet for our tastes. However by adding the effervescence it made it a great beverage to start our noshing with!

DISCLAIMER: AllEars was invited by Disney to the Epcot Flower and Garden Media Preview on February 27, 2015. We were given a special horticulture tour, and complementary tastes of the food and beverages.

Comments (6)

Deb Conda:

Heading down from Jersey for the first two weeks of May.
I've taken well over 100 trips to Walt Disney World in the last 15 years, and not a one without consulting Deb Will's & All Ears for up to date information and menus! Very much looking forward to this year's Flower & Garden Festival !

I will celebrating my birthday (in April)at a "Flower Power" weekend with my sister! I have never been to the Flower and Garden Festival before. I am very excited! I must say, I have been an Allears follower for years and years... and I am always impressed with your information!

What is your "go to" part of Flower and Garden? Something you just can't skip...

I was waiting eagerly for your review of Flower and Garden....do they have bacon cupcakes again? That was my fav last year...but I will be looking for the Coconut tres leches in April.
Thanks much!
Melanie

DEB: "Piggylicious" Bacon Cupcake with maple frosting and pretzel crunch us back at the SmokeHouse!
Here are the menus: http://allears.net/tp/ep/fg15/epcot-flower-and-garden-festival-food-and-beverages-2015.htm

I want to let you know how much we appreciate all the hard work that goes into your Previews/Reviews. It saves us a LOT of time and money by narrowing down what we think we'll want to order at the Festivals. I'll definitely be getting the Shrimp & Grits! And probably the Quinoa Naanwich as well.
So a Big Thanks to You & Linda and the whole AllEars team for the incredible job you all do.